Can you run out of sperm?

11.25.2014

Men who are masturbating or who are trying to conceive are constantly concerned about running out of sperm. But
do men actually run out of sperm?

Well, the simple answer to this
question is “No”. Men never run out of sperm and their testicles keep
on producing sperm cells until the day they die. This is why you may have heard
stories of even 90 year olds fathering a child. This is very true. While women
stop being fertile when they reach menopause around the age of 50-55 years, men
are always fertile.

It is true that masturbation may
affect your sperm reserve for a short while. If you are masturbating two or
three times a day, the number of sperm cells released in each ejaculation will
reduce. Even the amount of your ejaculate will go down each time you reach an
orgasm. However, if you are masturbating once in a day or two, your sperm count
and semen volume should remain normal.

The male reproductive system is
constantly making new sperm, so even if you have sex each day or masturbate
each day, you will never be short of sperm or semen. Fertile men release over 2ml
of semen and 20 million sperm per ml of semen. Sperm only live for a few days
and when they die they are reabsorbed back into the body so that new sperm are
produced.

However, that does not mean that
you will be short of sperm in the interim period. Sperm is constantly produced
by the testicles. There are certain factors that can reduce your sperm count
such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, too much heating up of the
testicles, or lack of nutrients such as zinc. Although these conditions may
limit sperm production, these rarely lead to a total lack of sperm or semen
production.

It is believed that sperm
production does begin to decrease after the age of 40-50. Men also do not have
enough semen to produce and often find it increasingly difficult to reach and
maintain erections as they age. But it doesn’t mean that the supply runs out.

If you are trying to conceive,
you may try to limit sexual intercourse or masturbation to once in two days.
This will ensure that when you do ejaculate, the semen volume is high and the
number of sperm released is higher as well. However, keep in mind that
abstinence for a long time will also affect your fertility since it will actually
reduce your sperm count and affect its ability to swim quickly.